Car Slams Into Recycling Truck At Harveys Lake

HARVEYS LAKE — The wife of a former United States congressman is hospitalized in critical condition after a wreck today in Luzerne County.

Police are trying to figure out why the woman’s car plowed into the back of a truck at Harveys Lake.

Officials at Geisinger Wyoming Valley tell us that Jean Nelligan is in critical condition.

Authorities say she was not wearing her seat belt when her car slammed into a recycling truck at Harveys Lake around 10 a.m. Monday.

The front end of this sedan crumpled when it slammed into the back of a recycling truck.

It happened along a curve on Route 415 when workers were stopped picking up recyclables left outside houses.

Harveys Lake police say the force of the crash left the license plate from the truck embedded in the front of the sedan.

The driver, Jean Nelligan, is the wife of former Congressman James Nelligan. He was a one term Republican who served the 11th Congressional District in the 1980s and police say he was not in the car at the time of the crash.

Route 415 was closed for nearly two hours as troopers took pictures of the wreck.

“With what I’m looking at, investigating the accident, i believe that if the seat belt was worn, if there was no other medical condition, it would have done a lot,” said Harveys Lake Police Chief Charles Musial.

Chief Musial says there is also no sign that Nelligan hit the brakes before crashing into the truck.

One worker was behind the wheel. The other man was in a driveway hauling recycling bins to the truck. They were not hurt.

Harveys Lake police say that recycling crew was following the law. The truck driver won’t face any citations.